Missed a great thread!
If anyone is familiar with the Zaino follower's "wrath", it's me. When thewaxtest.com went live, we had no less than 300 angry e-mails in less than 36 hours from Zaino folks...and 90% of them were not very cordial. That said, we quickly realized that we had misused the product - applied <em class='bbc'>way[/i] too much of it, which resulted in streaking, hazing, and longer than anticipated cure times.
After a retest of the product, we found that its durability (albiet in a very static, non abusive environment) was better than most products. For some reason, our P21S refused to die, and the Klasse held up quite well too.
As of yesterday, which would be 15 weeks after the initial application, the Zaino panel was still beading water (it's been drizzling here for a few days), whereas the other panels were not. Again, our panels are not subjected to daily wear and tear from road abrasion, so it's not really an accurate test.
My thoughts on Zaino are this: on a daily driver, where protection is critical, it's the product to use. On a show car, where the benefits of "clean" layering are welcomed, it's also a great product to use. But..
I truly believe that Zaino works best in the hands of a skilled detailer, and I know that carguy, etc are great detailers - they have demonstrated their awesome knowledge of car care not only on this forum, but on other websites as well. For the guys on the other forums that write things like, "just drove the car from Arizona to New York, ran through the auto car wash and slapped on 5 coats of zaino - looks perfect!" I question their evaluations...but...
Zaino probably requires some pre-application conditioning in order to achieve the best results. I think that a good claying, SMR/FI-II, etc, Dawn Wash & then Zaino treatment will result in a good looking finish. I've been evaluating the product "off the record" with my Tahoe, and it's pretty good stuff. It's been through snow, salt, sand, rains, dog poop, auto car washes, etc. and it's still holding up pretty good - the rocker panels, etc. are beading water (still) which I consider to be extraordinary, since I last Zaino'd the truck at Thanksgiving.
Not to worry, though, we're going to re-test it in Round 2: using our normal panels, simulated wear panels and on real-life vehicles, side by side with some other products.
Hope this shed's a little more "unbiased" info on the situation.